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'Underestimated' Ebola outbreak spreads

Ivory Coast, the largest economy in French-speaking West Africa, closes its land borders with Ebola-ravaged Guinea and Liberia to help stop the deadly disease from spreading into its territory. Mana Rabiee reports.
Video provided by Reuters
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Men working for a humanitarian group give water in small bags to West Point residents behind a gate at a holding area as they wait for a second consignment of food from the Liberian government to be handed out near the central city area of Monrovia on Aug. 22, 2014.(Photo: Abbas Dulleh, AP)

Ebola continues to spread in West Africa as Sierra Leone voted to pass a new amendment imposing jail time for anyone caught hiding an Ebola patient.

With 142 new cases recorded, the total number is now 2,615 with 1,427 deaths, the World Health Organization said Friday. The group added that the magnitude of the Ebola outbreak has been "underestimated."

"Many families hide infected loved ones in their homes," the organization wrote in an assessment. "Others deny that a patient has Ebola and believe that care in an isolation ward — viewed as an incubator of the disease — will lead to infection and certain death. Most fear the stigma and social rejection that come to patients and families when a diagnosis of Ebola is confirmed."

Most of the new cases are in Liberia. So far, that country has record 1,082 cases and 624 deaths. New treatment centers are overwhelmed by patients that were not previously identified.

One center with 20 beds opened its doors to 70 possibly infected people, likely coming from "shadow-zones" where people fearing authorities won't let doctors enter, the U.N. health agency said.

"This phenomenon strongly suggests the existence of an invisible caseload of patients who are not being detected by the surveillance system," the agency said. This has "never before been seen in an Ebola outbreak."

The government in Liberia was delivering donated rice to a slum where 50,000 people have been sealed off from the rest of the capital in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

Sierra Leone has recorded at least 910 cases and 392 deaths. The World Health Organization believes the hiding of Ebola patients in the country has contributed to a major underestimation of the current outbreak.

The country's new law, enacted to compel residents to cooperate with government officials, was passed on Friday and imposes prison terms of up to two years for violators, said lawmaker Ansumana Jaiah Kaikai.

The Ivory Coast announced late Friday it was closing land borders with neighboring Guinea and Liberia. Gabon, Senegal, South Africa and Cameroon had all earlier in the week imposed restrictions on some or all of the four countries with confirmed Ebola cases.

Speaking in parliament on Friday, Sierra Leone majority leader Ibrahim Bundu said Sierra Leone had suffered "abandonment and isolation from those we viewed to be our biggest friends" in the region and beyond.

"These ugly developments are evidenced in the cancellations of flights, closing of borders, reduction of operational hours of banks and further isolation by shutting down businesses at the time of greatest need," he said, adding lawmakers would soon review the country's partnerships "so as to form a permanent record of who are true friends are."

Some countries continue to impose travel restrictions, even though they aren't recommended by the U.N. health agency.

On Friday, the Central African country of Gabon announced it was barring all flights and ships from Ebola-stricken countries. South Africa already announced a travel ban for non-citizens from these countries "unless the travel is considered absolutely essential." Senegal closed its borders with Guinea and is barring air or sea travel from Sierra Leone and Liberia. Cameroon barred flights from Nigeria.

On Saturday, the Philippine government said it was recalling 115 peacekeepers from Liberia because of the health risk posed by Ebola.

Meanwhile, two new cases emerged in Nigeria, where patients were quarantined two days ago while being tested, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Friday. Authorities are now trying to identify and monitor everyone they have been in contact with. In all, 213 people are now under surveillance in Nigeria.